Diary Entry #0021: ARC Review—CITY LOVE by Susane Colasanti

Title: City Love

by Susane Colasanti

Date of Publication: April 21st 2015

Genre: Young Adult | Contemporary

Synopsis: 

Sadie, Darcy, and Rosanna are living together in New York City the summer before their freshman year of college begins. With no parents, no rules, and an entire city to explore, these three girls are on the verge of the best summer of their lives. 

Sadie is a native New Yorker. She is hopeful, romantic, and an eternal optimist who is ready to find her soul mate. Then she meets her dream boy: cute, funny, and quirky in all the right ways. The chemistry between them is unreal. Could he be the one? 

Darcy is a free spirit from SoCal with rebellious tendencies and unlimited financial resources. Moving to New York City is just another adventure for her. Darcy wants this summer to be all about boy adventures—nothing serious. But how much fun is too much? 

Rosanna leaves Chicago for NYC so she can put her past behind her and reinvent herself. The only thing standing in her way is the grand total of seventy-three cents she has saved. Then she meets a guy who wants to show her the glamorous side of New York—a side that she would never get to experience on her own. If Rosanna doesn't resist, she may find herself in city love. 

Told from alternating points of view, City Love captures the moments in each girl's life when everything is thrilling, amazing, and terrifying all at once . . . in a way it will never be again.

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Review:

“City love is the kind of love that never dies. No matter how many boyfriends come and go, no matter how many heartbreaks I endure, this city will always be my true love.” 

First, I would like to thank HarperCollins for providing me with a review copy. It has not, in any way, influenced my thoughts about this book.

Growing up, I used to be amazed by city lights and towering skyscrapers and the fast-paced life of a big city. New York City was definitely on my list of places to visit when I was younger but as I grew older, I didn’t dream of going there anymore. Instead, I wanted to go to Europe. North America sounded cliché already. But reading City Love made me fall in love with this lively city all over again and it inspired wanderlust within me.

Reading Sadie, Rosanna and Darcy’s adventure of finding love and building new friendships in New York has been a fun experience. Chapter after chapter, I was enthralled and captivated by these three young girls as they try to take on the new chapter of their life—college—in a big city. I fell in love as they did, got confused as they did and got heartbroken as they did. For this, I can say that City Love is a light read, perfect for a lazy summer day.

Sadie: oh, she was a fun character to read. Among the three, Sadie is the optimist. Upon reading her point of view in the first chapter, I immediately felt light, like I was floating in the clouds where no bad thing can reach me. Seriously, everything’s just lovely in her world. She’s the one I was most happy about when she found a guy to love. But, sadly, her optimism is blind.

Rosanna: I was not particularly feeling anything about her except pity and a little annoyance. She said she’s not a pessimist, she’s a realist. Well, Rosanna isn’t that well off, so she’s kind of bitter about people who have lots of money. But her time in New York will prove that when love finds you, it doesn’t matter if he’s dressed in an Armani suit or rocking a tee from Salvation Army.

Darcy: she’s the wild spirited one in their group. The one who carpes the freaking diem. She just wants to enjoy the summer, be with different guys and prove to herself that one boy can’t dictate how she’ll live the rest of her life. I was annoyed at her at first because she’s acting bitchy but as the story progressed, I understood where she’s coming from.

To be honest, when I saw that there were only 3 chapters left in the story, one chapter for each of the girls, I felt disappointed because nothing major has happened yet. They just all gravitated towards love without any problems that would need resolution. I was like, Oh, no. It will be a HEA but one without anything explosive before that happy ending. But boy was I wrong. The problem I was looking for? It all happened in each of their last chapters.

And it ended in a cliffhanger.

That was the thing that saved this book, for me. THERE WILL BE A 2ND BOOK! I’m so excited and I’m so happy with the way it ended I just wanna make grabby motions with my hands for the next book. Overall, though it wasn’t perfect, this was still a book I enjoyed a lot. It showcases the thrill of waiting for love to come knocking at your door, finding new friends and living in a city for dreamers just waiting for your own dreams to come true.

4/5 bright-as-NY-city-lights Stars

About the Author:

Susane Colasanti is the bestselling author of When It Happens, Take Me There, Waiting for You, Something Like Fate, So Much Closer, Keep Holding On, All I Need, and Now and Forever. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from New York University. Before becoming a full-time author in 2007, Susane was a high school science teacher for ten years. She lives in New York City. 

Love,